


Trust

by katling



Series: Tony Stark Bingo 2019 [11]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Shifters, Gen, He's a dick, MIT Era, Rhodey is a bear, There's an OC too, Tony Has Trust Issues, Tony is still a cat here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-11-29 08:02:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18220421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katling/pseuds/katling
Summary: Rhodey finally finds out that Tony is a shifter and what his form is. It doesn't happen in quite the way Tony wanted but it all works out okay.This is a continuation of a my Shifter verse, which now has it's own series tag so it's easy to find them. So, if you haven't read the first two fics in this series, you might want to. This stands well on its own but the other fics give a bit more context.Written for the Tony Stark Bingo 2019 - Square S5: MIT Years





	Trust

Tony sighed as the door closed behind Rhodey and then immediately felt bad about that. Rhodey was his friend, his _best_ friend. Okay, maybe his _only_ friend but that was beside the point and not important anyway. Rhodey was his friend not because Tony was a Stark or because he was rich or because Howard could do something for Rhodey and his family. Rhodey was Tony’s friend because he _liked_ Tony for himself. Tony could barely believe it but no matter how much he’d tested Rhodey at the beginning of their friendship, Rhodey had never faltered. In fact, Rhodey had easily figured out Tony was testing him and just patiently waited him out, even down to refusing the car Tony offered to buy him when his own second-hand car crapped out on him. (Though he did allow Tony to work on the car as long as he explained what he was doing so Rhodey could learn how to do it himself.)

So Rhodey was his friend and he really meant it and that probably meant that Tony could trust him with his shifted form but… Howard hated his shifted form and after everything he’d said, Tony had gotten skittish about others knowing. Jarvis and Ana knew, of course, and he’d spent many hours curled up in Ana’s lap, being gently scritched behind the ears and rewarding her with purrs, or perched on Jarvis’ shoulder, much to the man’s amusement and faint worry that Tony would fall. And of course, he’d spent lots of time curled up with his Mamma, who was also a cat. He sometimes wondered how she got along with Howard’s wolfhound but apparently they did.

And he knew Rhodey was a shifter too. Rhodey was a bear. A bit gangly and prone to lolloping around instead of lumbering as a bear should but he was young and he already showed signs of filling out to being a properly fearsome bear. 

Tony supposed that was the problem. Rhodey had an impressive shifted form, while Tony was… not. Not that cats were considered unfortunate. Cats were one of the more common shifted forms, along with dogs and various types of birds, but Tony’s cat form was… small. Ish. Smallish. Which was okay because he was only fifteen and… well, he was kind of short too but Jarvis said that not every boy got their growth spurt young. Some had to wait until they were in their late teens so Tony had time. But small black cats were nowhere near as impressive as bears like Rhodey and Tony felt.. inadequate.

He sighed and walked over to his bed before shifting into his cat form and curling up in a ball and tucking his nose under one paw. He almost instantly felt better. He always did when he could curl up into a ball as a cat. He had no idea why but Mamma had said she felt the same so he figured it was just a cat thing. It was nicer when he had Mamma to curl up around him or Ana to scratch his head but this was nice as well and he settled quickly into a light doze, content for once to rest instead of thinking up trouble.

He was startled out of sleep by the door opening and Rhodey coming in with one of his friends from his math class at his heels. Tony and Rhodey didn’t have the same math classes – Tony had tested out of all the basic ones _and_ all the intermediate ones and, hell, a lot of the advanced ones too, for that matter, in his first week and was now doing some of the _really_ advanced classes instead. But Tony knew the guy with Rhodey – his name was Kevin – and he didn’t like him. Where Rhodey saw him as himself, as _Tony_ , rather than _Tony Stark_ , Kevin was all about the last name. He looked at Tony with avarice in his eyes, though never when Rhodey was watching. 

“It’ll only take a second to find my notes,” Rhodey was saying as they walked in.

Tony stayed very still on his bed and hoped that neither of the two older boys would notice him. Unfortunately, he wasn’t that lucky.

“What’s with the cat?” Kevin said with a snort.

Rhodey whirled around and looked at Tony with surprise that he quickly wiped away before Kevin could see it. Tony winced and hunched in on himself, waiting to see what kind of reaction Rhodey would have.

“Tones and I found him in the alley behind the pizza place,” Rhodey said breezily as though he wasn’t just making this up on the spot. “We couldn’t leave him there.”

“You can’t keep a cat in the dorms,” Kevin said derisively but with a glint in his eyes that Tony didn’t like. He just knew that he was going to have an ‘accidental’ meeting with Kevin in the next few days that would end with a threat to tell someone about the cat in their dorm unless Tony made it worth his while to keep silent. So now Tony was in the situation where he was either going to cause trouble for Rhodey or he’d have to ‘fess up to being a cat shifter.

Rhodey, however, snorted and shot that derision right back at Kevin. “This is a shifter dorm. No one’s going to know the difference. They’ll just think it’s one of the other students being cute.”

Something dark flashed across Kevin’s face that he didn’t hide fast enough and Rhodey very quickly got him out of the room. He didn’t go with him though and instead waited until they heard Kevin’s footsteps fade away before he came over to the bed and sat down.

“Tones?” he said gently.

Tony sighed and unwound himself, sitting up and making an affirmative mrrping noise. He was rewarded by the best kind of Rhodey grin – the one that said you were going to be teased within an inch of your life but it was going to be the fun kind of teasing, not the mean kind.

“Aww, aren’t you the cutest lil kitty cat,” Rhodey crooned, his voice full of laughter.

Tony hissed at him even as he squidged his way over to squash himself against Rhodey’s side then eel his way onto the older boy’s lap.

“Very scary,” Rhodey said with a chuckle. “Especially when you come schmoozing for snuggles. I see where you get it now.”

Tony pretended to bite Rhodey’s hand as he started scratching behind his ears. He’d expected to be rejected the first time he cuddled up to Rhodey when they were watching a movie but instead Rhodey had pulled him closer and Tony had taken that as carte blanche to snuggle up to him whenever he wanted. Rhodey had never once rejected him, not even when Tony crawled into his bed at night after a nightmare.

“Mama’s going to love this, you know,” Rhodey said quietly as he continued to scritch Tony’s head and Tony began to purr. 

His purr actually stuttered at that sentence. Rhodey had invited him home with him for Thanksgiving after he’d found out that all Tony had to look forward to was a stultifying dinner party that was more for Howard’s business partners than for family. Tony had accepted with alacrity even though he was dying with nerves, almost scared to meet Rhodey’s family in case they hated him. But now he made a curious mrrp sound, hoping Rhodey would elaborate.

“The moment she sees your shifted form, Mama’s going to pick you up and cuddle you and put you in her apron pocket and never let anyone else near you. The rest of us will just be chopped liver,” Rhodey said, fond amusement in his voice. “Where do you think I get my shifted form from? Mama brings whole new definitions to the words ‘mama bear’.”

Tony gave a small meow and shoved his head further into Rhodey’s hand. He was still nervous about meeting Rhodey’s family but he kind of liked the idea of being tucked into her apron pocket. It kind of sounded like Jarvis and Ana times one hundred, because Jarvis and Ana never entirely forgot protocol.

“I get why you haven’t told me about this before now,” Rhodey continued. “You didn’t know if you could trust me and like this… well, I guess you’re vulnerable.” His voice darkened a little. “I saw how Kevin looked at you and if he comes near you, either like this or as you normally are, you tell me immediately. I thought he might be okay but looks like he’s just a jackass.”

Tony stood up and stretched up as high as he could to try and rub his face against Rhodey’s in relieved gratitude. He’d long ago gotten over his problems with Rhodey’s protectiveness. He hated admitting he needed help but Rhodey never made it seem like a burden or like he wanted to be repaid. Tony figured this was what it was like having an older brother and he loved that idea. Also Rhodey was a _bear_ and bear shifters were known to be protective of what they considered their own.

He jumped off Rhodey’s lap and shifted back into his human form. He clasped his hands together as he sat next to Rhodey.

“I do trust you,” he said quietly, looking down at his hands. “People assume I’m a shifter because both Mamma and Howard are but… Howard hates my shifted form and I guess I just…”

“Howard’s a dick,” Rhodey said in such a censorious tone that Tony could only grin. Rhodey returned the grin. “You’re adorable as a cat.”

Tony pretended to scowl and shoved the older boy. “Am not.”

“Are too.”

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

Tony gave Rhodey another shove and the other boy pretended to fall off the bed, though not before grabbing Tony and dragging him down with him. They got into a brief scuffle that was ruined by their laughter then Rhodey pulled him to his feet.

“Come on,” he said throwing an arm over Tony’s shoulders. “I was going to go get pizza with Kevin but he’s a dick so you’re coming with me instead. We can talk about all the dumb shit we can do with our shifted forms.”

“Deal,” Tony said with a grin as Rhodey steered them both out the door. His trust in Rhodey settled more firmly into his bones and even some of his worry about meeting the Rhodes family faded. If they were anything like Rhodey, then maybe he could come to trust them too.


End file.
